1st December 1989
Good Old Sam is playing them yet again in his eleventh compilation of golden oldies, plus a newcomer not seen before. The latest addition to the Superior stable is an arcade adventure in the Citadel mould called Baron.
In it, your father, the king, has heard that his best friend, the wizard, has been kidnapped by an evil baron. Your father fathers his army and marches towards the baron's castle to rescue his friend. You, the prince, have taken a short cut and sneaked into the baron's castle to rescue the wizard by yourself.
This is the scenario for a rather poor follow-up to the very successful Citadel and Palace Of Magic. You wander from screen to screen climbing ladders, jumping from level to level and zapping a variety of dangerous creatures.
There are many objects to be collected and some to be avoided, as they sap your strength. Lose too much energy on a screen and you are sent back to the point at which you entered.
Some creatures bounce up and down or sideways, while others, like the guards follow you closely, depleting your energy. Fortunately, they can be shot, but this is difficult as you have to hit them right between the eyes and as they are sometimes taller than you this has to be done while jumping.
The Mode 5 graphics are quite poor by current standards and are shown up by the other games in this compilation. The characters are exclusively ORed on to the screen and whenever they pass in front of an object you just see garbage on the screen. Surely a proper sprite routine could have been used?
There isn't much sound to speak of. Again, another let down, and running in Mode 5 where there should be memory to spare, so there's no excuse.
If you are addicted to this type of arcade adventure Baron is worth a look. However, it's not the best of its type and I think many will give it a miss.
Best of this compilation is the outstanding Pipeline. Released over a year ago, it never made much of an impression on the software chart. It deserved to do much better.
Pipeline is set in the far future at a sulphur mining station on Jupiter's moon, lo. Volcanic activity as surrounded the robot-controlled mining platform with a sea of burning sulphur. So desperate is Earth's need for it that you have been despatched to lo to collect every single drum of sulphur and close down all four mining operations.
The dimensions of Pipeline make Repton look like a screen from PACMAN. If you were impressed when you first saw the map to Repton 3, prepare to be amazed by the Pipeline layout. Each of the four levels is twice the size of a Repton scenario.
The action is viewed from above as you control the hero who scuttles around a beautifully drawn, complex and often deadly maze. The screen scrolls in four directions - like Repton - as you move about. Not only do you receive a top-quality arcade adventure, you also get character and level designers, and a mission generator.
Sam slays it again with the highly controversial Barbarian, notorious for featuring the ample assets of model Maria Whittaker. In this one or two player game you fight the ten minions of the sorcerer Drax, and finally, Drax himself.
You have a choice of either combat practise or the game itself, which is a fight to the death. The former allows you to perfect your attacking and defensive moves against a passive opponent. The slain opponent's body is dragged away by a goblin in a highly amusing scene.
In the fight to the death you start off against a fairly good, but easily beaten sword-wielding barbarian. After twelve hits, or after being decapitated, he falls to the ground and his place is taken by a slightly more skilled opponent.
The only disappointment is with the lack of variety in the graphics. The quality is excellent, but the game lacks quantity. The sound effects are as good as can be expected bearing in mind the Electron's limited capacity for special effects.
The final offering, Monsters, has been dredged up from the mists of time. It was a hit way back in the very early days of the Electron's history, when it was one of the best ladders and levels games around. But today it is merely run-of-the-mill.
Run up and down the ladders and along the brick levels, dodging the marauding bug-eyed monsters. You have a pick axe with which to defend yourself, but it's not to hit the poor blighters with, you use it to dig holes. Wait for a monster to fall in, then scamper up and fill up the hole, burying the monster. Leave it too long in the hole and it will escape and turn into a very angry, vicious green monster. These are best avoided.
Monsters is a simple, undemanding game that can be used to pass away an afternoon or two. It's not in the same league as Pipeline, but good fun all the same.
Baron alone does not justify the asking price of SAM 11, so if you've got the other three games in this compilation, SAM 11 can't be recommended. However, if you haven't bought Barbarian or Pipeline separately this compilation becomes a must.
* * * Second Opinion (By Janice Murray) * * *A very mixed bag of games in Superior's latest Sam compilation, ranging from the superb Pipeline to the ancient, but good, Monsters and the brand new, but disappointing, Baron. Its value for money must depend on how many of the other titles you have already collected.
